November 14, 2008
Mold Making Video: Making a Plaster Reclaim Slab
 Pouring a thick plaster slab with an indentation increases the surface area available for reclaiming wet clay, speeding the process and shortening your work time. |
Whether you work in a shared studio, at a community arts center, in a luxurious private studio or in a corner of your basement, chances are that space is at a premium. Today Holly Goring shows us how to make a reclaim slab that doubles as a wedging board, saving space, materials, time and effort. You will need some basic plaster know-how, but luckily Holly has already covered a lot of this in her previous video feature Plaster Mixing 101. Today’s feature is a lot like making a one-piece plaster mold, except that it’s flipped on its head and the object being cast is actually sunk into the plaster after it has been poured. Genius! — Sherman Hall, Ceramic Arts Daily |
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Once the cottles are assembled and mold soap has been applied to all porous surfaces, the mold is filled with plaster. This takes quite a bit of plaster, since the purpose of a reclaim slab is to extract a lot of water from sloppy wet clay or slip. |
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Download the Ceramic Workshop Handbook: Pottery Tools and Ceramic Studio Resources to get more great ideas like this one! |
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When the mold is full of plaster, a metal (or other non-porpous material) bowl is weighted down in the center of the plaster to form the indentation that will hold reclaim clay. Be sure that this bowl has no foot ring or other area that will create an undercut, preventing its removal from the cured plaster. |
Tags: Making Ceramic Molds, plaster, reclaim
wijdan | October 4th, 2009 at 6:30 am
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